Cat’s Ear Pain May Be Linked to Other Areas
Q: During the past year and a half, our 13-year-old cat has had increasing irritation and pain around her ear area. She used to love having the area around her ears rubbed and scratched but now she is “fightin’ mad” when anyone gets near the area.
A year ago, we had her checked for ear mites; none were found. Nevertheless, we followed with consecutive courses of two types of eardrops, one for ear mites, the next an antibiotic drop. Both of the drops obviously caused her even more irritation and pain in her ears. She also was given systemic antibiotics for a week at a time during and after the drops. The systemic drugs seemed to slightly improve the irritation.
This year I wanted to solve the problem and so had her anesthetized, ears cleaned out, culture and sensitivity run, and X-rays taken to rule out middle-ear involvement, polyps, or tumors. The culture grew nothing pathogenic, the X-rays showed nothing wrong at all. Do you have any suggestions or diagnosis possibilities?
Karen Shea, El Toro
A: Since a fair amount of work-up has been done on your cat’s ear canals with no apparent abnormalities, you might want to consider problems in nearby areas. You want to make sure that she is not having any dental problems or disorders of her gums or back of the throat. Although it is uncommon, have your vet check the cervical spine on the X-rays to make sure there is no disc or end plate disease. A skin scraping will rule out mites in the skin around the head and neck. If the skin appears inflamed or abnormal, a biopsy should be done.
Some cats have a condition called hyperesthesia which basically means their skin is very sensitive to the touch. This generally occurs over the tail base and lower back. The cause is often unknown and can be very difficult to treat. Neuritis or inflamed nerve endings can occur but should respond to anti-inflammatory medications, such as corticosteriods.
If nothing else is found abnormal on your cat, your veterinarian may want to refer her to a veterinary neurologist for some special studies.
Q: Is it OK to use the same flea-killing products on my cat that we use for our dogs? We have two types of shampoos, a dip and some flea sprays.
Steve May, Garden Grove
A: Always make sure that you read the labels on these products carefully before using any of them on your pets. Many dips cannot be used on cats: Avoid alcohol-based flea sprays on your cat. Shampoos with pyrethrins should be safe on cats.
